Vietnam’s processed coffee looks to create a buzz in global markets

Coffee products are displayed at the Vietnam International Coffee Show 2018 in Ho Chi Minh City last May (Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) – Several
businesses have set up strategies to help their processed coffee products win
the trust of global consumers, given their belief that Vietnamese coffee has
the strength and potential to do so.

Facing consumers’ fear of unsafe food, the
Vinamit JSC has developed clean farming methods and applied high technologies
in food processing and preservation. Aside from other dried agricultural
produce, freeze-dried coffee products are one of the firm’s latest ideas.

Vinamit General Director Nguyen Lam Vien said that
freeze-dried products are the outcome of his company’s devotion to producing
convenient and healthy organic products.

Many surveys show that today’s consumers have
high demands for clean coffee. Notably, almost all export markets request that product
origins be traceable. Businesses need to not only actively build brands but
also satisfy the demands of modern consumerism.

Tran Thanh Hai, Chairman of the Board of
Directors of the NutiFood Nutrition Food JSC, said the domestic instant coffee
market currently faces fierce competition from large, long-standing coffee
brands from both Vietnam and other countries.

To survive in this competition, NutiFood has taken
its own way, he said, adding that it has invested in having the best materials
from well-known coffee farming areas in the Central Highlands province of Dak
Lak. It has also made use of technological advantages and research and
development strengths to create an instant coffee product that has the same
taste as a filtered roasted coffee with sweetened condensed milk.

Le Tan, Vice Chairman and Secretary General of
the Vietnam Cuisine Culture Association (VCCA), once said, while talking about Vietnamese
food, that foreign tourists usually think of pho (beef noodle soup) and banh mi
(Vietnamese sandwich). However, there remain many other delicious dishes that are
yet to be widely recognised, including iced milk coffee. Bloomberg used to name
Vietnamese iced milk coffee among the world’s top 10 coffee drinks, while CNN
suggested that travellers coming to the country should try the drink.

Therefore, the VCCA prioritises potential
products of Vietnamese food to introduce to the world, with iced milk coffee
culture as one of them, he noted.

Tan said after entering a partnership with
NutiFood, the VCCA will include “Nuticafe Fresh Iced Milk Coffee” on the list
of products to be introduced at trade promotion events and activities to popularise
Vietnamese cuisine.

Meanwhile, King Coffee – a Trung Nguyen
International brand – took part in and impressed visitors at a coffee festival
in Los Angeles, the US, last August.

Kevin Nguyen, Business Director of King Coffee
in the US, said more and more American consumers are choosing Vietnamese
coffee, even though there are plenty of coffee products from famous global brands
in this market. King Coffee still has a high chance of penetrating the American
market.

Trung Nguyen International has developed its
distribution network to more than 60 countries and all the 63 provinces and
cities in Vietnam. It has opened an office in California and plans to expand
the distribution system through the King Coffee shop chain.

Commenting on the US market, VCCA Chairman
Nguyen Quoc Ky said that this is a potential market for Vietnamese farm
produce. The important thing is how to create effective market access
strategies and increase the added value of that produce through convenient and
top-quality processed goods.

Coffee is one of Vietnam’s key strengths, with the
country now the second largest exporter in the world, he said.

He noted that fresh iced milk coffee and dried
coffee products are made using modern technology and meet international
standards as promising products because they are Vietnamese specialities, while
many other countries are strong in hot coffee and other varieties.

Big opportunities are also accompanied by
numerous challenges, Ky said, stressing the need for stronger connectivity in
trade promotion and pioneer steps by major businesses to optimise the
advantages of Vietnamese coffee on international markets.–VNA